We have been trying to no avail to find a new home for it, even through the Old Lawnmower Club. Instead of scrapping it, on Thursday we took it nearly 200 miles south to the British Lawnmower Museum in Southport, run by Brian Radam who started employment as an apprentice to ATCO fifty years ago!
It is a rare machine and they didn't have one...and they possibly have a grass catcher/box for it already. They had a place ready for it, next to its 1926 predecessor that had a lever to carry the cable away from the business end...which although a brilliant idea was discontinued as too expensive to provide! The museum is a large three bedroom house stuffed full of interesting items..and a 20 minute audio tour starting with a song sung by the inventor's grandson!!
The journey down had taken far longer than expected and after a snack we headed back north, breathing a sigh of relief that most of the jams were in the opposite direction!
Supper at the Westmorland services at Tebay...a mains and hot pud for £10, a real good deal...and an overnight at the small hotel at Gretna Services.
An easy start on the Friday, shopping for nuts and dried fruit and the like in the Grape Tree shop in the Gretna Green outlet.
We were saddened to hear that this branch is closing, because the new owners of the mall are going "upmarket"...a cladding facelift to all the buildings to give a false "American Colonial" feel, security guards going round in pairs, expanding expensive shops and squeezing out the smaller successful shops. The only places left with any interest for locals will be M&S and Clarke's shoes outlets for seconds/excess stock....
On to lunch with a friend, going via the smaller roads through Annan to Dumfries and down the Solway Coast to Southerness by the square lighthouse .
Then up through Castle Douglas and on to the A713 heading for home by mid afternoon...except that the car had other ideas....
Twenty miles from home the plastic widget at the pedal end of the clutch cable let go.... luckily at the end of a straight stretch of road and I coasted to a farm entrance, off the road without blocking the entrance...
And about 4pm we phoned the NFU mutual. I have a get you home addition to the RAC breakdown cover that comes with my car insurance...a valuable £20 extra!
As Pirate has a Blue Badge that chivvied the RAC to move faster, with prompting from the NFU....but it was still 6pm before they had passed the job to their "local" company...in Stranraer...Euro Relay...whose main call centre is in France!!
While we waited the 3½ hours until the car was lifted, only two people stopped.
The first was able to tell us what had happened and that it wouldn't be a roadside mend.
His father had had a tractor in the show at Glen Luce....
Then when the rescue lorry came....his father in law had had a tractor at the show....
The second person to stop was a grizzled old West Virginian who had settled just upriver from our breakdown..he wasn't about to do anything, as his walking stick attested, but was willing to go for help....as he said we all have to look after each other and wished us "y'all take care" as he drove on.
We were lifted just as the midgies started biting...perfect timing, then home for supper.
Our local garage man was knocked off his motorbike...no personal damage, just a few bumps and bruises but he won't be doing any heavy work for a week or so....and his mate who might have done the job for him is away at a motorbike rally....
Anyway we have bought the new cable and will collect it next week. No car until then....so no travel costs!!
We won't be kicking our heels with nothing to do here, so no complaints!!
Still it carries on hot and dry...and rain forecast tonight so today we have been doing the washing, and mending the couple of leaks in the workshop roof....
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